SPU, Western and Central Washington send athletes to Pueblo for NCAA D2 championships...

PUEBLO, Colorado--Seattle Pacific's Ali Worthen along with Western Washington's Alex Harrison and Michael Hoffman will help kick off the NCAA Division II track & field championships on Thursday as they begin competition in the heptathlon, decathlon and hammer.

Worthen, the senior from Coos Bay, Oregon's Marshfield High, enters the NCAA championships as the GNAC conference champ in the heptathlon, and the fourth seeded entrant with a score of 5199.

Harrison is seeded 11th with a best of 6772, set at the California Invitational Multi Events meet at Azusa Pacific in April.

Hoffman has a season best of 205-1 (62.51m), set at the Western Washington twilight meet on May 4th.

On Friday, Western's Karis Anderson and Central Washington's Kati Davis (above/photo by Paul Merca) compete in the finals of the women's pole vault. Both competed in the indoor nationals in March, and at last year's outdoor nationals, where both tied for seventh. Davis has a season best of 12-2 3/4 (3.73m), while Anderson has a best of 12-7 1/2 (3.85m).

Seattle Pacific's Nate Seely, the GNAC 800 champ, is seeded eighth with a time of 1:50.61.

Rounding out Friday's competitors, Western's Emily Warman, the 2009 NCAA indoor triple jump champ, will make her first outdoor appearance. She's seeded 13th with a best of 40-5 (12.32m).

On Saturday, SPU's Brittany Aanstad goes in as the number one seed at 161-11 (49.35m), while the Vikings' Katie Reichert goes in at #7 with a season best of 148-4 (45.21m).

Worthen competes in the high jump on Saturday, and Harrison will participate in the javelin.

The NCAA Division II time schedule is available here.

Seattle Pacific's release is available here, while Western Washington's is available here.

Central Washington's release is available here.

The NCAA will webcast the Division II championships via ncaa.com. Live results will be available via this link.

NOTE:  Central Washington, Seattle Pacific, and Western Washington's sports information offices, along with the NCAA and the USTFCCCA contributed to this report.

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